Word of the Day

Eradicate “to remove or destroy utterly” comes from the Latin verb ērādīcāre “to root out,” a compound of ē- “out” and rādīx “root.” Other derivatives of rādīx include radical, the primary sense of which is “of or going to the root or origin,” and radish, an edible root. The ultimate origin of rādīx is the Proto-Indo-European root wrād- “branch, root,” which is also the source of English root, wort, and orchard; Latin rāmus “branch” (as in ramify); and Ancient Greek rhíza “root” (as in the combining form rhizo- and the noun licorice, the latter from Ancient Greek glykýrriza “sweet root”). Eradicate was first recorded in English circa 1560.

Fomites “surfaces that can become contaminated with and transmit pathogens” is the plural form of the noun fomes, from Latin fōmes “kindling wood.” Although fomes is the correct singular form of fomites, fomite also appears in English because of a process known as back formation; because most English nouns are pluralized by adding -s, the final -s is dropped from fomites by mistaken analogy with other English nouns. Similar back formations include primate (from Latin singular prīmās, plural prīmātēs) and termite (from Latin singular termes, plural termitēs). Other back formations of non-Latin origin include cherry (from Old English singular ċiris) and pea (from Modern English singular pease). Fomites was first recorded in English at the turn of the 19th century.

Allyship “the status of being an advocate for the inclusion of a marginalized group of which the advocate is not a member” is a compound of the noun ally and the combining form -ship, the latter of which denotes condition, character, or skill. Ally derives via Anglo-French and Old French from the Latin verb alligāre “to bind to,” from ligāre “to bind.” Additional descendants of ligāre include alloy, league, liable, ligament, and oblige, all of which involve a link to or merger with another person, object, or entity. Latin alligāre became alier “to unite, combine, join (in kinship)” in Old French, and its derivative noun, alliiet, gained the sense of “relative.” From there, ally shifted in English to mean “friend, associate” and then developed the additional meaning of “supporter or member of an alliance.” Today, the term has developed a specific nuance: allies are not part of the group that they support but stand in solidarity with the group nonetheless. Allyship was first recorded in English in the late 1840s in the sense “the state of being associated with another or others for a common purpose,” a definition that differs from allyship’s current meaning.

Cockade “a rosette worn on the hat as part of a uniform” is an alteration of the French term cocarde, which derives from the Middle French word cocquard “boastful, silly, cocky” (like the boastful behavior of a rooster). Cocquard is a compound of the noun coc “rooster, cock” and -ard, a noun-forming suffix. Coc derives from Late Latin coccus or a Germanic term akin to Old Norse kokkr and is of onomatopoeic origin; numerous languages worldwide independently developed similar-sounding words for “rooster” by imitating the sound of the rooster’s call. The suffix -ard is likely extracted from a Frankish element, -hart “strong, brave, hardy,” found in Germanic-origin personal names in French, such as Bernard and Richard, and in terms for people who regularly engage in a particular activity or are characterized in a certain way, such as drunkard and wizard. Cockade was first recorded in English in the 1650s.

Imp “a little devil or demon” derives from Old English impa “shoot, graft,” via Latin impotus from Ancient Greek émphytos “planted, implanted.” This Ancient Greek source is related to the noun phytón “plant,” which is the source of the English combining forms phyto- (as in phytochemical, a compound found in plants) and -phyte (as in neophyte “a beginner or novice,” literally “a new plant”). The story of how a word for “plant” became a word for “little devil” is less complicated than one might think; from “plant,” the definition shifted to “offshoot of a plant,” and from there, it broadened to include any offspring, plant or animal. The phrase imp of the devil, meaning “offspring of the devil,” gave imp the additional sense of “demon,” which the word has preserved to the present day though it no longer appears in that phrase. Imp was first recorded in English before the 8th century.